Apple updates the low-end MacBook

Apple on Wednesday updated its low-end consumer notebook, adding a slightly faster processor and a larger hard drive.

The 13-inch white MacBook now comes with a 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, adding a little more speed over the previous 2GHz processor. The hard drive has also been increased from 120GB to 160GB in the upgrade.

Memory for the machine remains at 2GB DDR2, expandable to 4GB for an extra $100. Apple made no changes to the graphics card, choosing to stay with the Nvidia GeForce 9400m unit.

Despite the upgrades, Apple is sticking with its $999 price tag on the machine.

The changes bring the low-end white MacBook closer in specs to the unibody aluminum MacBook. However, there are still advantages to the unibody design, including the ability to upgrade the hard drive to solid state and the use of the faster DDR3 memory.

[dbloyd]

$799 would be better. Still high but Apple seems to resist even doing that.

[myles taylor]

I disagree. I don't want Apple to play in that market. That will bring in a slew of people who I don't want to give tech support to.

[Bob Kakis]

Duh and $699 would even be better... Apple does not want your business mate. Take a hint.

[Renegade Knight]

@myles taylor

You are assuming the current crop of Mac users are any less tech slobs. I've not seen any reason to think they know computer crap from shinola.

That said I do like Apple's way of keeping up with the market with periodic upgrades and no price change.

[Vegaman_Dan]

@myles taylor:

"I disagree. I don't want Apple to play in that market. That will bring in a slew of people who I don't want to give tech support to. "

Um, that sort of comment just reeks of 'Apple elistist snob' when you read it. Perhaps you might want to rephrase it? Right now it sounds like you don't want any commoners to be able to own or use the Holy Apple laptop. I'm not sure that is really what you meant, is it?

[Seaspray0]

@miles taylor. "...who I don't want to give tech support to." So, you work for apple tech support? Why would you need to provide tech support if the computer "just worked"? Maybe it's because that "slew of people" aren't "intuitive"? Could it be that they would tarnish your "superior"ity complex?

[pithenumber]

@myles
you sound very elitist with your comment

there is not anything wrong with people who aren't rich

[Bob Kakis]

Obama uses a Mac! Biden uses a Mac!

http://www.9to5mac.com/barack-obama-mac-user

The most powerful men in the universe use Macs. Why... Because they are reliable. Macs work. Why should they be priced any less?

[solitare_pax]

Check out the Apple Refurb page to get your cheap MacBooks.

[Seaspray0]

@Bob Kakis. They've also spent about $2 trillion dollars that the government didn't have. So much for credibility.

[Bob Kakis]

Seaspray

That's because your buddy Bush got us into this mess... Obama is getting us out...

That is not even the point. My point is that the most technologically educated president in US history uses Macs for reliability!

[myles taylor]

Very nice. Upgrade without spending more. That's awesome.

[DMAN3k]

Still crap compared to the price and spec of what Lenovo offers at ~ $550.

However, the price is better if you can get the education deal with $50 discount and a "free" iPod Touch. If you can't get the education discount + iPod, go with Lenovo. At least Lenovo isn't absolutely evil.

[sythara]

Aren't Apple laptops made by Lenovo?

Plus you don't get all the software for $550 that come with a mac. If this price stays the way it is, in 6 months or so I might actually buy a mac.

[Bob Kakis]

DMAN3k - $550 for pure garbage? Do you like throwing your money out the window? Since when did cheap = quality?

Lenovo is such a horrible company that is led my morons! All of their products are cheap garbage. I wish IBM could take back the ThinkPad brand and slap Lenovo in the face.

EVEN THE US GOVERNMENT HAS BANNED LENOVO!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4997288.stm

Read these horror stories to substantiate my claims:

http://digitaljournal.com/article/251252

http://digitaljournal.com/article/248931

Read the user comments here:

http://lenovoblogs.com/designmatters/?p=228

"NoteBookReview.com has been the biggest, and most credible, supporter of ThinkPads ever! This has been well known in the industry. With the launch of the T500 and W500, they have ended their support for ThinkPads. Read their reviews. They have even said that the MacBook Air is far more durable than any ThinkPad."

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4238

"Keyboard flex in a ThinkPad ... the end of an era."

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4569&review=Lenovo+ThinkPad+T400

US Government has banned ThinkPads.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4997288.stm

Even IBM has moved to Macs.

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/04/16/ibm-launches-pilot-program-for-migrating-to-macs/

Do you want to buy a T500, T400, W500???

This video says it all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8sOO-8LP4E&feature=related

Lenovo will have your laptop in service longer than you will have it in your hands!

[Mr_7235]

I concur with Bob Kakis. Lenovo, even Lenovo Thinkpads, are absolute garbage with poor support and design. While they have fixed the T500 keyboard flex problem, my T500 is still easily the most worthless, frustrating computer I have ever used.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Lenovo's design and build quality has suffered greatly after the agreement with IBM had ended. For several years after Lenovo bought the Thinkpad name and line, IBM had enforced the design be that of the classic Thinkpad, a business class machine that while expensive, was built well and was ideally suited for enterprise use.

Once that time was up, Lenovo immediately dropped the build quality and went to cheap materials and design. The W500, X201/301 series and newer represent this change in design. It may have the Thinkpad name on it, but it's no relation to the original product.

I had a Lenovo rep come to my service location needing help with his product samples that were sent to him from China. The new preproduction units were going to be shopped around to various vendors to show off the new product line- however the units were broken and damaged badly with the case plastics cracked, vents broken out, and the LCD's destroyed. Turns out that a T60 Thinkpad had been put in the same box with the samples and... yeah. The T60 was perfect, the product samples were ruined.

[sythara]

"EVEN THE US GOVERNMENT HAS BANNED LENOVO!"

Its banned under the Buy American Act

[pithenumber]

@sythara
I think ASUS made many of the plastic ones

@Bob
I like my Thinkpad very much please and thank you

[Bob Kakis]

@pithennumber

I am glad that you like your garbage Lenovo Thinkpad very much.

Open it up. Look how cheap it is inside. Drop it - watch how fast it breaks. Call for service - watch how long it takes. Send it for repair - watch how you never get it back. Type on it - watch how much it flexes - or how the Mickey Mouse buttons pop off.

If it is not an IBM ThinkPad - It is a Garbage ThinkPad

If you dont like Mac, go buy a HP Elitebook at least.

[Bob Kakis]

@sythara

Read the BBC report - Lenovo ThinkPads have been banned by the US Government over security and quality concerns, not the Buy American Act.

[AppleSuxLeo]

So now they have 2GB of RAM ???
Bwahahahahaha !

[ittesi259]

Read the article, it had 2GB before this minor hardware update....

[docster87]

If the OS isn't total bloat, 2GB of RAM can do a lot. Windows requires a ton just for the OS. I'm running with just 1GB of RAM and rarely run into memory issues.

[ckh1272]

Wow, AppleSuxLeo makes another negative post!! I am shocked (insert sarcastic tone)!

[pithenumber]

@AppleSux
they had that for a while now
@docstar
Win7 on a netbook with 1gb, runs pretty fast
Win7 runs on 512mb and less systems pretty nicely too

[AppleSuxLeo]

The point was , for that price on a Windows notebook , you get 6GB RAM ;) And a 500GB HDD !

[Sausagebiscuit]

Enough to have 2GB free and 300GB free, respectively! (Yes I may have over exaggerated...)

P.S. buying ram upgrades from a vendor is typically a ripoff. Sell or donate that 2GB and buy the 6GB if you want, it's dirt cheap at newegg (and others).

[protagonistic]

But you still haven't addressed the fact that you will have to spend a lot more money to get the same level of software that comes as part of the package on a Mac. If you factor that in the price is more of a tossup. Granted, if all you do is email and surf then you don't need the extra software, but in my case I do a lot more so OS X saved me a bundle by me not having to purchase that extra software.

[Vegaman_Dan]

@protagonistic:

"But you still haven't addressed the fact that you will have to spend a lot more money to get the same level of software that comes as part of the package on a Mac."

I hear this old line trotted out time and time again and nobody ever seems to realize that perhaps the end user doesn't *WANT* all that extra stuff bundled in and forced down their throat. Perhaps going to a minimal offereing is the better way. Allow end users to pick and choose what they want to install from a selection of providers instead of being forced to pay for bundled software they do not want.

I, for example, have no need of Garageband. I also don't use Apple's photo management software, or the DVD movie editor. I have better products I paid for separately. However, when I got my MacBookPro, I didn't get a choice if I wanted that or not- it was incuded and that means the price was higher as a result as well. I had to pay for software that I didn't want, need, or even use.

Funny that if Microsoft does this, it's evil and we hear 'monopoly' trotted out, but when Apple does the same thing, it's all for the betterment of mankind, etc.

Apple- give me a stripped down version of the OS. Allow customers freedom of choice. Allow us to 'think different'... or at least be independant of what you have decided for us what we will use. I want choice. Yank the extra stuff out of the OS, let those be downloads you purchase and I'll be happy.

[pithenumber]

@protagonistic
open source and freeware

[Sir-Rasheed]

you state that "Memory for the machine remains at 2GB DDR2" which in fact they bumped up the ram speed to 800 Mhz on the ram from 667 Mhz.

[Bob Kakis]

Actually, the hard drive on the white MacBook is removable and upgradeable. Pop out the battery, and remove the hard drive bracket - that is all!

Apple still has poor hardware condition than PC. Larger hard drive is best option, but Processor is important. The point is that there is not much difference between current and future hard drive and Processor for Macbook. PC is stronger and has better performance in the best price.

[Sausagebiscuit]

uh what?

What is "poor hardware condition" ? They use the same parts as any PC anymore since the x86 switch. I can't really argue any of your other points because I really don't understand anything you said.

Have a nice day!

[Bob Kakis]

How does Apple have poor hardware condition.

Apple has the best hardware. I would love to say that a PC brand is better, but no PC comes close. Open up a PC and a Mac. A Mac is nice and clean. A PC is messy with sticker all over every part. I am surprised that they do not catch fire. Seriously - Prove me wrong - Show me a PC that is put together properly on the inside, and I will buy it.

As for service, Apple has placed on top of every survey. Google it

[pithenumber]

@Bob
come over to my shop and buy yourself a machine

[ercapade]

By keeping the price the same instead of lowering it with the so-called free upgrade, apple is getting even better margin on the laptop compared to a year ago.

For the record, the reason why US government ban purchasing lenovo computers is because, guess what, not because of poor quality, but because "security concern" since the company is from China, but I am sure everyone is aware of that, except our well-informed Bob Kakis.

[Mr_7235]

And most of the people I know who have recently purchased Lenovo Thinkpads know that the quality and level of customer service has plummeted since the IBM days.

Just for fun, you might be interested to check out http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T400_series_ThinkPads&thread.id=3704 and look at the dates associated with the problem coming to light and Lenovo releasing its various "fixes".

[camp88]

How is it a "so-called" free upgrade and not simply an upgrade?

Yesterday it didn't have the upgrade, today it does and the price hasn't changed.

How is that not a free upgrade?

Do the math.

[Vegaman_Dan]

I don't think the US government's concerns over security has much to do with a Lenovo laptop that is quite literally a poorly designed and built system that is very prone to physical failure or damage from every day use.

[Seaspray0]

@Vegaman Dan. Ty, for the heads up on the new lenovo's. Our recent batches of Dell laptops have been doing fine. They can get some rugged use by the field guys working on the pipelines. Their service contract isn't too bad either.

[Bob Kakis]

Ercapade, I've provided you several substantiated reasons why Lenovo ThinkPads suck.

What have you provided? Nothing.

The BBC ran a huge story on why the US Government banned LENOVO, as have many other countries since.

If you are going to defend crap (aka LENOVO THINKPAD), substantiate it with something please!

LENOVO THINKPADS ARE UNRELIABLE PIECES OF GARBAGE.

You can prove my point even further by calling Lenovo support. See how far you get.

BTW - Why have Thinkpads been on sale since January 2008? They make it seem like the sale will last a few weeks, but sure enough a follow up sale comes after the previous one expires - consistently since Jan 2008

[sythara]

The US Gov't conserns deal directly with the Buy American Act and congress mandated Federal Aquisition Regulation compliance with it, for purchases of any IT products. Its actually a very complex subject due to dozens of other regulations that go with that act (Berry Amendment, etc) but yeah we don't like buying stuff from China for these things.

[Vegaman_Dan]

@Seaspray:

I have to deal with the OEM's daily and the service levels vary greatly. If I have a customer who has a hard disk failure, which can happen to any OEM since they pretty much use the same parts and suppliers, the time it takes to get a replacement drive in my hands can really make or break a deal for a customer.

Dell: Overnight
HP: 1-2 business days.
Toshiba: 1-2 business days.
Acer: 3-5 business days.
Lenovo 3-5 business days, frequently on backorder
Apple: 2-3 weeks

I don't know what their actual service level agreements are with the OEM's, but those are the realistic timeframes that I have to work with. When a customer has a drive fail, they don't want to hear that it will take several days to several weeks to get a replacement- not when if they had chosen another brand that I could have the replacement in hours or overnight.

[Bob Kakis]

@sythara

Read the BBC report - Lenovo ThinkPads have been banned by the US Government over security and quality concerns, not the Buy American Act.

[tanis143]

Bah, they gave the cpu .15 ghzn and 40 gigs more hard drive space. Still pretty lame compared to what a windows machine includes. And what software are all you clammering about? That iLife suite? Wow, yeah I wanna pay that much money for that (insert eye roll here). Apple is still what it was 10 years ago, an elitist group of people who think that because they have the money to spend on a Mac, they are better than the average person. Whatever.

[Bob Kakis]

Obama uses a Mac! Biden uses a Mac!

http://www.9to5mac.com/barack-obama-mac-user

The most powerful men in the universe use Macs. Why... Because they are reliable. Macs work. Why should they be priced any less?

[DrtyDogg]

Obama uses a Zune too which only works on Windows. Why would the most powerful men in the universe become slaves to a company, they wouldn't, and nor should you.

[Bob Kakis]

BS buddy

Obama gave the Queen an iPod. If he believed in the Zune he wouldve given that.... nice try - keep spinnin BS

[Dan7637]

we get 6 GB RAM and 500GB hard drives with Quad cores- typical windows idiot, you dont need more than 1GB RAM to run os x smoothly while vista is 2GB and a 2.0 Ghz processor is plenty power for os x, hell ive even used an old emac with 256MB RAM and 1.42 PowerPc and still could run os x smoothly so ****

[ikramerica--2008]

Well, 1GB is a bit light when you want to do memory intensive things, but 2GB is really plenty.

MacBooks are not shipped stock for heavy photoshop work, etc. (but can be upgraded to 6GB for those who really want to use it that way). They are a big step above a NetBook, in that they are small and portable, but have full computer capabilities. There aren't many small and portable 13" laptops on the market for less than the MacBook that have the specs the MacBook has: FW, Gigabit Enet, Bluetooth, wireless-N, Core2Duo with 3MB cache and 1GHz front side bus, Nvidia 9400m graphics, and of course, OSX FULL Edition with "recovery DVD" at no cost. HP can't offer a machine like that for $999, nor can Dell (even with their "instant discount").

But Macs are still overpriced. Because MS commercials tell us that... ;)

[ikramerica--2008]

I own Macs, but why is this news? Seriously.

[auramac]

Why is this news? Because the bottom-of-the-line Mac just got a little better, for those who can't afford a Pro model.

They keep this up- I might even grab one myself!

[auramac]

Welcome back, Jim!
Was unaware Lennovo sucks so much now- then again, Dell and HP are pretty damn cheap and ugly-looking too. People here are arguing about arguments- what a waste of time! First of all, regarding the hardware, whatever the price, Apple reigns supreme. Just better-quality, longer-lasting components. It's not just that they're "pretty." Second of all, even a Lennovo with Mac OS would be superior to the most expensive PC.. it's the OS, Stupid! How do you even compare? There IS no comparison- that's what the commercials are all about- Mac or PC? A Mac IS a PC, but only a Mac runs Mac OS, and if you must, (ugh)- Windows.